this sort of thing really boils my p1ss - fair enough the powers-that-be need to be vigilant etc but there just seems to be a complete lack of common-sense / discretion on the part of the police. It's not the first incident either...

If there'd been a terrorist attack, you'd all be saying 'the coppers are useless, they were stood around taking photos of the target all day and no-one stopped them!'

I guess that's the problem, there will be a lot more idiots standing around saying that than not so that's what becomes important rather than any attempt to maintain some level of civil liberties.

Personally I think these steps are absolutely ridiculous, just like so many other steps that have restricted our freedom, this will make zero headway into 'the fight against terrorism'. to paraphrase Dara from Mock the week a while back, 'when we can't take photographs without being hassled by policemen, we've *lost* the war on terror'.